OWN YOUR BRAND SHOW with Victoria Odekomaya

Anne Hathaway's Bold Journey From Small Town To The White House | Ep 72

• Victoria Odekomaya | LiMStudios Network • Episode 72

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In this episode of The Own Your Brand Show, Victoria Odekomaya sits down with political powerhouse and leadership mentor Anne Hathaway — a woman who’s done it all, from working in the White House to leading major Indiana political initiatives and training over 700 women in leadership and public service.

Anne shares her inspiring journey from a small-town girl with big dreams to a respected strategist and fixer, revealing how she found her voice in male-dominated spaces and turned challenges into opportunities for growth.

💡 Whether you’re an entrepreneur, leader, or woman ready to step into your power, this episode will remind you that courage, curiosity, and consistency are the real game changers. Tune in to learn how to lead with confidence, embrace risk, and make your mark — wherever you are.

🔗 Learn more about Anne Hathaway and her work:


 👉 Hathaway Strategies

👉 The Lugar Series

ABOUT

Victoria Odekomaya is a Nigerian American entrepreneur, speaker, and content marketing strategist on a mission to help business owners grow their business, brand, and legacy through the power of storytelling and strategic content marketing.

She’s the founder of LiMStudios, a full-service creative agency and state-of-the-art content studio in Indianapolis where strategy and storytelling come together through high-quality content production and marketing implementation. She’s also the creator of Boss Ladies Magazine and host of The Own Your Brand Show, a video podcast to help business owners grow their business, brand, and legacy through strategic content marketing and authentic conversations about the entrepreneurial journey.

Each week, Victoria breaks down practical content marketing strategies in her solo “Own Your Brand” episodes and sits down with entrepreneurs in her Behind the Brand series to uncover the stories, struggles, and systems behind their success. Because when we get real about the wins AND the struggles, we realize we're not alone and that's when real transformation happens.

Follow her journey through LiMStudios, Boss Ladies Magazine, and The Own Your Brand Show and join the movement to amplify voices, build legacy, and make impact.

📩 For sponsorship or business inquiries:
mtr.bio/limstudios | hello@thelimstudios.com | Text 260-777-7211

Anne Hathaway:

My high school guidance counselor told me that politics wasn't a career, it was a hobby. We were sitting in a staff meeting, and I leaned over to one of the male colleagues and I said, Well, we should do blah blah blah. The next thing I knew is it came out of his mouth as his idea, and I said to myself at that very moment, I will never do that again. Women believe that they need to be perfect all the time. We talk about when it's okay to be good and when you have to ramp it up to be perfect. And sometimes we think of taking risk as failing and that failing is bad. For me, I found failure to be an opportunity to learn. If you can see it in your head and if you can believe it, you can make it happen.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Hello and welcome to another episode of the On Your Brand Show. I'm your girl Victoria Udeko Maya, and today I'm very excited because we're talking to a very special guest who has done it all from the White House to Indianapolis politics, or sorry, Indiana politics to working in a male-dominated industrial area, and then now on a mission to help other women, you know, really find their voice and lead. This woman has done it all. And I cannot wait for us to dive into it and share our experience and some takeaway on how we can also build that leadership skills and really speak up and own our voice. So without much ado, let's get into it. Hi, how are you doing today? I'm great. How are you? I'm fine, thank you. Thanks for having me. Yeah, you have done it all. Like your bio, I was reading, I was like, oh my goodness, like um, you are the president and the CEO of Adaway Strategies. You have worked as the RNC National Committee Women for Indiana and on various boards. Um, you have served as the, um you currently serve as the executive director of Richard G. Lugas Excellence in Public Service Series, and you are on a mission to train nearly 700. Actually, you are training nearly 700 women, uh, usual women in public service.

Anne Hathaway:

That is huge. One day at a time, one thing at a time, just trying to make a difference. Yeah.

Victoria Odekomaya:

And you are making a difference. I remember when we first met, and I have to say that I got the privilege to photograph you for the Narbo edition of the Boss Ladies magazine, and I just remember thinking, oh my god, oh my god, I'm photographing and like before I even met you, like I've heard so much about you and just the fact that you're making such huge impact, not only locally but nationally. I think that's huge. And so thank you for letting me photograph you and also being letting me be like you were like so real and human, you know, because like so I'm sorry, because I I come from a culture where people in politics or leadership are so hard, they don't, there's no connection with them. And I was like, oh my god, like I get to photograph us. So that was pretty good.

Anne Hathaway:

Well, you made me look really good that day. You the photos were beautiful. So thank you for that. Thank you, thank you. I appreciate that. I'm um uh, you know, I'm from a little bitty town in Illinois. My hometown had about 2,500 people, and it was a community where you just you know pulled up your britches and went and got did whatever needed to be done. People pitched in, made it happen. Uh, I was a really went to a small high school, I think there were 77 or 78 in my high school graduating class. Wow. A lot of us had gone to school, you know, kindergarten through through um senior year together. So um I was really blessed to be in a community where I had the opportunity to try lots of things, get really involved in a lot of different things, learn things, and um it's carried over into my adult life.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Yeah. I can tell like you're such a do-it person, very action, like very actual, you're not a talker, you're a doer.

Anne Hathaway:

Yeah, um, I was actually just in a meeting with a client, uh-huh, and he is and he's he said, I had to drop in because I have of this problem and I need it fixed, and you're the fixer. Yeah. And so I I tend to um identify things, try to make a difference, fix them, find solutions.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Um, it's a lot some days. Yeah, I bet. I bet. So, but like I know you you worked in the White House, very male-dominated industries, you know, the whole like how what who was like what would be just asked the question, how did you even get those types of opportunities?

Anne Hathaway:

Sure, sure. Um uh I was I went to college as an interior design major, but always had a passion for politics. My high school guidance counselor um told me that politics wasn't a career, it was a hobby. So I had my design background. Look at me now. Right, exactly. I had my design background always to fall back on. Um, but I volunteered on a campaign and I got hired. My first job was at as a yard sign coordinator. I put together yard signs in a barn and helped um get out the vote, and that led to another campaign opportunity. Um, and then uh uh five of us got in a car and we drove to Washington, D.C. We went to a leadership school that was two days long, and that helped to pivot me into an opportunity in Washington, D.C. I was very young, I was about 21, 22, and I wanted to go to Washington, D.C. But I didn't know that I wanted to go there forever, or I just wanted to go and I wanted to experience it. I wanted to learn in Washington, D.C. Um, it really intrigued me, and so I did. Um, and I was very lucky that uh one job led to another job that led to another job. My first job was at the U.S. Treasury Department as a GS4 clerk typist, not making very much money and being someone's assistant. That led me to another job as an assistant. If you're the first one in, the last one out, and you do your job really well, and you don't, whatever comes your way, you do it. It provides opportunities to show your skills, to show your willingness to lean in. And that provided me the opportunity to grow to go through the ladder in Washington, D.C. And um I wound up going being sent when James A. Baker III became campaign manager for George Herbert Walker Bush. Basically, eight of us got called out of the Treasury Department to go over to the campaign. I became a scheduler for the vice presidential nominee who became the um, and and then they needed someone to do the the the second lady, which was uh Marilyn Quayle. I volunteered, got the job, we won the election, and I got to work at the White House for four years.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Oh my god, that is so cool. So during this time, and when you you know started working at the White House, what were the th people saying in Illinois? Like you're you know, like a small town now. How was that like?

Anne Hathaway:

Um, I think that um it was very uh surreal. I remember going back to my class reunion and um uh it was in August, and I'd been in the job for a bit, and uh one of the guys in my class said, Well, does the vice president know your name? And I was like, uh yeah, he's my boss. And so it was it was weird for them to think that this person that they see on TV um knew my name and that I was working in the White House in Washington, D.C. But I think that one of the reasons I did that job so well is that in a small town you treat everyone the same. Yeah, you're very respectful, you're uh neighbors, and you're taking care of each other. And Vice President Quill used to say that I told him what he needed to hear, not what he wanted to hear. And again, I went into to work early, I stayed late, I worked hard, which um really provided me the opportunity to be a valuable member of the team.

Victoria Odekomaya:

That is so cool. Wow. So, you know, like in politics is mostly men, you know, like what are some of the challenges that you faced in that job? I have one example.

Anne Hathaway:

Um I remember um I was um assistant to the vice president and director of scheduling and public liaison um for the vice president, and we were sitting in a staff meeting in the um old executive office building around the table. Uh, there was one other woman in the room, and she was Mrs. Quayle's chief of staff, and we were having a discussion about something, and I leaned over to one of the male colleagues and I said, Well, we should do blah blah blah. The next thing I knew is it came out of his mouth as his idea, and I said to myself at that very moment, I will never do that again. I will I will offer my voice in my idea, and if it's dumb and it's wrong, I would rather own that than have somebody else misrepresent one of my ideas. Yeah, that is so, and I don't think it was meant to be vindictive or evil. I think he thought he was tossing it into the conversation, but I should have been bolder and I should, and I think that emboldened me to really find my voice and um to take more risk. And sometimes we think of taking risk as failing and that failing is bad. For me, I found failure to be an opportunity to learn. So, for example, when we when I've run political campaigns, obviously on election day, there's a winner or a loser. Sure. When you win, you pivot because you've got to get your person into office and you've got to get them up to speed and you've got to build out the ta the staff. And there are things to do. When you lose, you immediately go home and you clean out your desk and you try to figure out what's next. But it also gives you time to think about that campaign and what would I do different? How would I how did I think and should I have done this instead of that? And so I think that sometimes losing or what we call failing has provided me the most, the most and maybe the best opportunity to think about things and to uh learn from them to be able to do them differently next time.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Okay, so you talk about failing, but I don't know how many times you've actually failed. Because I mean, like we hear of all the amazing things like you planned the the nomination, um, the convention and even here locally as well. So give us an example of what what you're talking about in terms of failure here.

Anne Hathaway:

Uh I think that we all I think it always looks good from the outside that people perceive that life is easy and um they don't know about um the the challenges we all go through. Yeah. As I've mentioned, I've lost campaigns. Um uh I've had my job eliminated where uh uh I thought I was doing a good job and it was eliminated, and the next thing I know, you know, I have to go find a new job, and that kind of rocks your confidence. Um uh uh I lost my parents 75 days apart. And for one year I drove back and forth from Indianapolis to my little hometown um to be there because I didn't want to wish I would have. Um uh as you I think are aware, I'm a cancer survivor, and that that rocked my confidence and it and it was um uh I had great doctor and great nurses, great friends and family who encouraged me, but it was a chapter that was difficult. Um, and I don't know if they're failures as much as their obstacles to overcome and things that um help us to build um our ability to tackle the next big thing. Yeah. Because sometimes when it's easy, I'm sure you do this. We're like, okay, I did that. What's next? Yes, okay, what's next?

Victoria Odekomaya:

Yeah.

Anne Hathaway:

Um, and while you know, I was lucky enough to be chairman of the Republican National Convention. Um, we had a great team. We had a we we got together early. It was a great team. Um, there was um a phenomenal executive director who was there um making sure to execute the strategy, but we set goals just like you do in business, just like you do in a political campaign. We had four goals, and at the end, we achieved all those four goals, and and and and and one of them was to do the best convention ever. And according to the media, we were.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Yes, yes, absolutely. So let's bring it back to Indiana, Indiana right now. So you're right now training 700 women. What does that mean for you and why even? Sure.

Anne Hathaway:

Um, I'm the executive director of the Richard D. G. Luger Excellence and Public Service Series, which is a GOP political, um it's a training program where it's competitive to get in. We usually have 30 to 50 applicants each year. We uh go through a screening and interview process for those who really want to engage, whether it be as an elected official, on a board or a commission, as a campaign manager, whether it be at the federal, state, local level, we're trying to help put tools in their toolkit in order to know where and how to engage. And so um this will be our 36th year. Wow. I've been lucky to be around for uh at least 15 of those years. But um helping women to overcome the no's, yeah, the doubts, the not willingness to take risk. Um, women believe that they need to be perfect. Yeah, and all the time. Yes. So we talk about when it's okay to be good and when you have to to ramp it up to be perfect, how to find that balance. Um, a lot of times when I've been in the position to recruit candidates for office, if I go talk to a man about being a candidate, he leans in and says, Where do I sign up? When I say to a woman, you should think about running, she backs up and says, I have to go home and ask my husband, who is going to take care of my children? You know, how am I gonna take care of childcare? And there are 25 reasons. And usually the one you hear most is I don't know enough. We don't, as a candidate, you don't have to know everything about everything. Oh wow. You have to be curious and you have to learn and you have to be a problem solver, which most women are. Yeah, naturally. And so trying to encourage them to think about their role differently, um, to make them comfortable. We we we um have someone come in and coach public speaking. We have a number of speakers that come in and talk process. I also identify role models, women who are role models, who they who the class thinks are perfect, that they've had it easy, or that that's been, you know, oh, I want to be her. Well, I have them come in and tell their stories. And their stories are never straight lines, they're roller coasters, they're ups and downs. And so when when when a woman can envision, well, I could do that. And well, if she's had though those struggles and I've had those struggles, it becomes more realistic. Yeah. And it's amazing to me how many women have gone on to run, to engage.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Um, and it's been a life changer for some. I bet, I bet. I was gonna say, like, if you had any um, you know, people that are coming back to share. I mean, I'm sure that even when you see the results in public because they're taking on these opportunities and these roles too. So, how does that make you feel in terms of like seeing the fruits of your labor? You know, not only just in the political realm, but also seeing that women are finally taking the stand, you know, and saying, Yeah, I'm gonna do this. Like that must feel really great, you know.

Anne Hathaway:

It does. Um, I I I have my proud mama moments where um I watch and I'm really gratified by the success. Um, and I think one of the things that keeps me going that it's not about me. Yeah. Um, I'm humble enough to be a part of their journeys, their stories, their lives, but really the focus is on creating more women leaders. And so when I see women helping other women, when I see um oftentimes the class project is women out campaigning for their colleague in the class, um, I get really excited. So often, you know, we've heard the story of tripping their prom queen and women um making it more difficult for other women. I really um try to encourage women to take the target off of each other's back and to focus on moving the ball forward and being finding solutions and making their their community, their state, their country better according to what they believe in their values. Yeah, that's so good.

Victoria Odekomaya:

So majority of our listeners are entrepreneurs, and I know that a lot of the things that you stand for, you teach, it's transferable skills. So, what can you, what word of advice or inspiration, encouragement can you give women entrepreneurs that are maybe or may or may not want to be in politics, but like some things that could just, you know, get them going. I think it goes back to taking risk.

Anne Hathaway:

And if you can see it in your head and if you can believe it, you can make it happen. I mean, I've started my business with a credit card. I didn't know about investment dollars and capital campaigns for entrepreneurs at the time. Um, I just took the risk to do it, and if I failed, I failed and I owned it. If I didn't, you know, who knew what might happen? Um I I also think that um we make things really complicated oftentimes, and sometimes it doesn't need to be as complicated as we get it in our heads. Um I'm a very linear thinker, so I think about the goal and think about it backwards and then replay it forwards and try to to continue to move the ball forward. Now, sometimes, and you know this, sometimes it's not a straight line. Right. Sometimes in order to achieve the goal, you gotta go right, left, over, under until you figure out how to get there. But I um my my counsel to women is uh to just go for it.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Yeah, that's good. Thank you so much. So we didn't quite talk about your business, but would you like to tell us a little bit more? Sure, sure.

Anne Hathaway:

We're a street strategic government affairs, public affairs consulting firm. Um, and as I probably said at the beginning, we fix things. People come to us and they want to know how to um how to talk to the government, how to fix things. They want a strategic plan on how to be progressive with their business, uh, with a particular issue. Uh, we're very um experienced in advocacy campaigns where we help to engage constituents, public, the public, being for or against issues, depending on what our client seeks to accomplish. That's amazing. Thank you so much for coming.

Victoria Odekomaya:

Thank you for having me. It was really fun to chat. Yes, absolutely. So you've got it. We're gonna put the links to all of that in here. If you're interested in it's a competitive program, but I think you should still, you know, submit an application if you're interested in politics or want to learn a little bit more about it. I know we talked about it when we were doing your photo shoot. The takeaway here is that never give up on yourself and continue to take risks until next time. Take care.

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Victoria Odekomaya

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